Tribe tops ESN

BUSHKILL Lehighton wasted no time taking control of its Mountain Valley Conference game with East Stroudsburg North.

The Indians' Tyler Crum fielded the opening kick off and took it to the house for 98 yards to open the contest.

"Tyler Crum is a game breaker. He has the potential to make these kinds of plays every single game," said Lehighton head football coach Tom McCarroll. "He's a dangerous athlete and it's nice that we have him back for another year,"

The first quarter is where much of the action took place in this one.

East Stroudsburg North took its first possession 79 yards to find the Indian end zone.

Khair Bowman had a 52-yard scamper which led to a one-yard William Quiles quarterback keeper to even the game up at 7-7.

The Indians came right back on their next possession to put up another touchdown thanks to the tough running of Wyatt Clements. Clements scored on a three-yard run and then followed it up with a two-yard TD run.

The Timberwolves scored their final touchdown of the game in the first quarter on an explosive 52-yard run by Eli McBride.

The score after one quarter was 19-14 in favor of the Indians.

After a scoreless second quarter, Mother Nature didn't cooperate as heavy rain broke out in the beginning of the second half.

The play immediately after the downpour started was a Timberwolf punt, which Tyler Crum was able to block. Crum was everywhere in this game. He recorded a special teams touchdown, a blocked punt, and an interception.

Crum's punt block set up the Indians with great field position.

Tom Ruzicka was able to capitalize for the Indians as he cashed in one of his two touchdowns on the following drive.

The score put Lehighton up 25-14 at this point.

"Last week in the second half our kids were very physical," said McCarroll. "It's a matter of choice, and tonight our kids made the choice to play great physical football."

The pouring rain combined with stellar defense from the Indians made it impossible for the Timberwolves to sustain any type of drive.

The tenacious Tribe defense was able to accumulate five sacks on the night. They dominated the battle in the trenches.

"It's never just one guy who steps it up for us on the defensive side of the ball," said McCarroll. "It was a collective effort and I'm proud of the way our kids came together."

The Indians tagged on another touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

Lehighton dominated on the ground, racking up 294 rushing yards.

"We executed near perfectly," said McCarroll. "We executed everything we practice all week.

"We ran the ball and controlled the clock all game. I'm extremely proud of their effort."

Lehighton improves to 3-3 overall and 2-3 in the MVC. East Stroudsburg North falls to 2-4 overall and 1-3 in MVC play.

The Indians look to carry this momentum into next week's matchup against Allen.